but Chief Baldwin rose.

"All right, we'll get the city police on the job and it will likely
mean a long term in prison for you."

At the word "prison," Peter Gruff jumped to his feet. "No, no, Chief,
not that! I'll tell." And with the helpful questioning of the Chief,
the old man blurted out his story. It began with the night of the
party. He had looked for the fan in the attic. It was his footprints
in the dust and the snow.

"How could that be?" laughed Chief Baldwin, looking at the tiny foot of
the old man. "Those feet were big."

Peter hesitated a moment then continued: "I put on big shoes so they'd
think a big man did it."

He owned that he had slipped back into the house and had been seen by
some of the young people. Finally he had hidden away in a closet and
waited until the party was over. When he thought everyone was asleep
he had crept into Colonel Baxter's study and stolen the fan, and later
he had hidden it in Hermit's Hut.

"But why did you hide it away out there?" asked the Chief.

"I didn't think anybody would go out there in the winter. Nobody ever
does. But those girls! They go everywhere! I thought I would leave
the fan there until people had forgotten it. It was a good hiding
place."

"But as usual when a man does something wrong, he gets found out! The
girls were too smart for you!" answered the Chief. "Why did you want
the fan? Tell me that."

"I had a big offer from a dealer in Paris. That dealer told me it was
owned by someone in Lynnwood, he didn't know who. But I knew that
Colonel Baxter would be the only person who could have it. So I got
it."

"If I had my way," said Chief Baldwin sternly, "I'd put you in jail and
keep you there a long time. But Colonel Baxter is kind and is willing
to give you another chance. So let this be a lesson to you to go
straight."

The old man seemed to have shrunk to half his size as he rose and
followed the Chief out of the door. In the outside room he met Colonel
Baxter. "I'm sorry," he said and was gone, but whether he was sorry he
had done wrong or sorry he had been caught was doubtful.

"So that solves the Mystery of the Queen's Fan," said Colonel Baxter as
the young people came into the shop a few moments later. "Old Peter
has confessed."

"Colonel Baxter, you don't know what a relief it is," cried Phil. "I
got so nervous, being shadowed all the time, that sometimes I wondered
if I _had_ stolen it." Phil laughed i